We often hear that there are more children with peanut and nut allergy today than in the past, but there has been scarce evidence to prove the point.

Now, data presented in February at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology annual conference in New Orleans reveal that peanut and tree nut allergy in children has steadily increased in the United States since 1997, as shown by three surveys over those 11 years.

Researchers conducted a telephone survey in 2008 of more than 5,300 households and found that 3½ times more children have peanut allergy now than they did 11 years ago. In 1997, 0.4 per cent of children were reported to have peanut allergy, which doubled by 2002, to 0.8 per cent. In 2008, 1.4 per cent of children had peanut allergy. Read more[1]